Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement:”Cecilia and I were, indeed, friends with Mark Phariss. We remember Mark from our law school days and his early days as a lawyer in San Antonio. We remain grateful that Mark visited the hospital during the trying time after my injury. As I said yesterday, there are good, well-meaning people on both sides of this issue. This shows that Americans can in fact debate substantial issues without being disagreeable.”

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One of the plaintiffs in the gay marriage case says he and Attorney General Greg Abbott were good friends in law school, Dallas television station KERA reports.

Mark Phariss is one of the men challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Abbott, the presumed Republican nominee for governor, is defending the ban

The state filed notice it is appealing a judge’s decision that the ban is unconstitutional on Thursday, the same day that Phariss talked to KERA.

Phariss said that when Abbott was hit by a falling tree in 1984, leaving him paralyzed below the waist, he flew to be at his bedside. Now an attorney who lives in Plano, Phariss was clerking for a firm in Tulsa at the time.

Although the two haven’t talked in about a decade, they exchange Christmas cards, Phariss said. A Democrat, he said he disagrees with Abbott’s take on the law but he doesn’t take it personally.

“He was a very good friend then and I consider him a very good friend now,” Phariss told KERA.

In 1984, when a tree limb fell on Abbott, Phariss was clerking for a law firm in Tulsa.